Hello my wonderful readers. I decided to give you this chapter early because I'm going to have a very busy weekend and I'm not sure if I'll be able to update this by Monday. I hope you guys have a great weekend!
Enjoy!
Chapter Nine
Two hours had passed as the others watched Sephiroth move from one book of notes to the next. He had nearly drowned himself in the novels of his creation and the other experiments related to Project G. Zack had gotten curious and tried reading some of it, but there were too many scientific equations for him to make any sense of it. Despite his easy-going and carefree nature, he was really smart, just not as smart as the science department.
Cloud picked up one of the books too that Sephiroth had passed over and skimmed through it. "What exactly did they do down here?" he breathed in shock.
"What'd you find, Spike?" asked Zack.
"According to this, some of the first SOLDIERs were used to test the Jenova genes to see how they'd handle it, but they were all failures. They all died. It explains how they died, but it's horrible. There's no emotion in these words. I'm sure their deaths were painful, but there's no compassion in any of it. It's like whoever wrote it was writing a simple report or ordering supplies or something."
"That's the science department for you," replied Vincent. "They do not see their test subjects as human."
Zack picked up another book and looked through it, only to discover something even more shocking. "It gets even worse as you read on. When it didn't work on adults they tried it on younger people, teens, children and even babies!" Zack felt sick to his stomach as he closed the book and fought to hold back angry tears. To think that children and babies were put through such extreme torture, it was unthinkable.
Vincent nodded in understanding. He fully felt for the SOLDIER's pain at the thought. "Hojo was determined to get a success no matter how many had to suffer for it. Finally he moved on to the unborn. That's where he found his success."
Zack looked over at Vincent and blinked, afraid to know the answer. The ex-Turk looked over to Sephiroth who closed the latest book he was reading.
"It was me. I was the success." The General turned from them and braced himself against the desk. "Hojo thought he was creating an ancient. A living Cetra, when he experimented on me and my mother as well."
He tried to keep his breathing even, but he couldn't stop himself from shaking.
"Sir?" asked Cloud in a worried tone. "General, are you…alright?"
The General looked up, but didn't turn to face them. "No, I'm not. I just found out that I was nothing more than an experiment to them. That I was expendable. If I hadn't been a success then they would have kept going until they found someone who was. I'm nothing more than a lab rat to them."
"Genesis and Angeal were right. We are just monsters," he said as he covered his face with his hand as he leaned heavily on the table.
Cloud approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "That's not true, you're not a monster."
Sephiroth turned quickly and shoved the blonde roughly to the ground. "Are you blind?! Look around you! This is the lab of a madman and I was merely the creation! I'm nothing without the power they gave me! Jenova may be dead, but that monster's cells are still alive within me! Even now, I'm fighting a strong impulse that's telling me to level this entire place and kill everyone in it!"
Cloud looked up at his general in fear and Zack moved in between to protect him. "Seph, you need to calm down. I know this is too much, but remember your vision. You said the Cetra showed you what would happen if you did go crazy. Are you going to let it come true?"
Sephiroth looked at his Lieutenant. He saw the emotion in his eyes. Zack was silently pleading with him. The Memories of his two lost commanders flashed through his mind. They had found out similar truths about themselves and fled because of it while slowly allowing the fear take control of them. Sephiroth could feel it happening to himself. The fear was getting to him and he was letting it. Looking at Zack he could see the same pain he had felt and kept hidden when his only two friends defected and vanished. He then looked down at the teen he had just shoved and realized he was merely a hair's breath away from breaking the promise he made to him, even if he had no idea himself.
"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I don't even know who I'm supposed to be anymore. I see now why I became a monster the first time."
Zack placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're not a monster, Seph. You're the General of SOLDIER, and even more important, you're my friend. And I'll be damned if I lose another friend to this madness. I've already had to say goodbye to Angeal and Genesis is still out there going through this alone and dealing with it in his own way. But, I won't let you go through it alone. Even if you choose to leave Shinra and the SOLDIER program, I'll follow you."
Sephiroth blinked in surprise. "You'd leave SOLDIER and the very position you longed to achieve, just to stay loyal to me?"
Zack nodded, "Without any hesitation. Because I'm your friend and friends stick together, right Spiky?"
Cloud stood then and nodded slowly. "Right. I'd probably never make SOLDIER anyway."
Sephiroth blinked at him before shaking his head. "Not true, Strife. I've seen what you could become and it's a position worthy of First Class."
Both teens were confused by this and Vincent blinked slowly at him before saying, "I think you should tell them the truth. They're more likely to believe you now, especially since I was there to witness it and lived through it."
Zack looked back and forth between them, "Well, I'm totally lost. Care to explain what you're talking about? I feel like I'm missing an obvious joke."
Sephiroth looked over at Vincent who nodded before finally taking a slow breath and telling them what he had seen when he visited the future. Another hour passed when he finished his tale and Vincent provided proof that it was indeed real.
Zack had long lost the will to stand and fell into one of the chairs for support. "I…I can't believe I died like that, and Aerith and Cloud and everyone…And I…no we were experimented on? Because of what happened here?" He held his head in his hands. "And I was killed, no, gunned down by the very company I swore to serve?"
"That's what the others told me when I was there," Sephiroth replied. "But you didn't die because you weren't good enough. According to Cloud it took several hundred troops to bring you down, and it was to protect him who was suffering from mako sickness at the time. I could tell by his body language that recalling the event was tearing him up inside. He didn't say it, but I'm sure if he were able he would have fought alongside you to the death."
"Really?" asked Zack.
Sephiroth nodded. "There was no mistaking the look in his eyes."
Zack looked over to his younger friend and smirked. "Thanks for bein' a real pal, Spike….Spike?...Cloud?"
Cloud was still on his feet, but he was looking down and away from them. "My mom and my town…gone?" His eyes were unfocused and he was trembling.
Sephiroth closed his eyes as he felt the pain. It was familiar, just like the older Cloud's pain, though this one was more shock and not as heavy as a memory the boy was reliving. "Strife, know that I wouldn't do anything to harm your family or this town."
"But you did!" He shouted as he glared at the General. For a moment Sephiroth saw the eyes of the young man's older self staring back at him. Those same eyes, though a bit dimmer with the lack of mako, still burned with determined hatred.
"Yes, I did…or would have? Time travel logic is confusing when it comes to grammar. The point is, if I was going to attack it would have happened already. I don't feel the same anger that I did before."
"You're not angry?" asked Zack.
"I'm pissed as hell," he replied, not caring for his choice of words at the moment, "but I have no intention to take it out on the innocent. Not after the promise I made to the Cloud from the future and his friends."
"My friends," Cloud asked.
Sephiroth nodded. "The group of people you met while on your journey to find and defeat me. I don't know if you will ever meet them now, but it was a choice you all made together. I could have stayed in the future, but everyone agreed to send me back because it would give others a chance to live and be happy. An orphaned child you took in now has his parents back and both Zack and Aerith are alive. The city of Midgar is still standing and no one has suffered from GeoStigma."
"That doesn't mean everything is fine," Vincent pointed out.
"No, far from it," Sephiroth agreed.
Cloud turned to the ex-Turk then, "Were we ever friends?"
The man nodded. "You were the one who originally woke me from my slumber and allowed me to get revenge on Hojo and because of you I began moving forward again. I will always be the future Cloud's friend and although you shall be different now, I still intend to honor that friendship."
Cloud couldn't help but offer a small smile. He couldn't explain it, but he felt immensely relieved to hear it. He turned then to the General. "Sir, I…I apologize for my actions before. I was out of line."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at that. "You were reacting to information of future events where your family was murdered by a commanding officer. I don't believe there is a proper protocol for something like that."
"Oh yes there is," Zack replied. "We fight back."
"What?" asked Cloud.
"Please explain," added Sephiroth.
The raven-haired SOLDIER stood up and explained his plan. "We change the company from the inside out. We won't run like Angeal and Genesis did. That didn't do them any favors. We play it smart. We'll go back to Shinra and act like nothing's changed. We go on missions and attend meetings and all that jazz, but secretly we try to find out who the evil ones are and weed them out. I don't mean kill them in cold blood, General. We'll do it honorably. Dig up some dirty secrets and flush them out into the public, hell even send it over to Wutai. Let the world see them for who they really are. Like Hojo, we know he's a bad egg, but I'm betting there are others."
Sephiroth nodded, "It's a good plan and it could work, but you're forgetting one thing."
"The Turks," Vincent answered for him to which Sephiroth nodded. "They would figure out our plan and stop it cold."
"Not if we have our own Turk helping us out," Zack replied while looking at Vincent. "And who knows? Maybe I can get Reno to help out too. Me an' him are pals."
"Meanwhile Zack will also be taking on a student of his own," Sephiroth added while looking at Cloud.
"Me?" the blonde asked, "but why?"
"Because you deserve to be in SOLDIER," Sephiroth replied. "In order to reclaim the strength you had in the future and wield that impressive blade I fought against you'll need strength that only mako can give. I will also train you, but off the record. If Hojo were to learn I've taken on a student he'd wonder why and want to look at you more closely. I aim to prevent that."
Cloud nodded his thanks with a nervous gulp. Thinking back to what he and Zack found in the reactor, he wanted nothing to do with it.
Vincent pushed off from the wall then. "I suggest we head out and burn this place. Hojo will be on his way now and we don't want him knowing we were here."
The rest agreed and followed him out. Sephiroth taking one last look at the room containing the secrets and lies of his origins before sending a level three fire spell into the room and closing the door.
As the group made their way out of the mansion Vincent vanished only to appear a moment later with a red materia. Zack gave him an odd look and Vincent answered, "This summon will come in handy. The monster guarding it was too frightened of me to fight back." Zack saw his eyes glow and agreed with the monster's wise choice. He wouldn't want to fight him either.